51. The Third Point of Preparation: Representing the
Mystery to be Meditated to Your Imagination

(Lord, May I Only Experience According To Your Will)

Following upon these two ordinary points, there is a third,
which is not necessary to all meditation, called by some the local
representation, and by others the interior picture. It is simply
kindling a vivid picture of the mystery to be meditated within your
imagination, even as though you were actually beholding it. For
instance, if you wish to meditate upon our Lord on His Cross, you
will place yourself in imagination on Mt. Calvary, as though you
saw and heard all that occurred there during the Passion; or you
can imagine to yourself all that the Evangelists describe as taking
place where you are.

When it is a question of such mysteries as
God’s Greatness, His Attributes, the end of our
creation, or other invisible things, you cannot make this use of
your imagination. At most you may employ certain comparisons and
similitudes, but these are not always opportune, and I would have
you follow a very simple method, and not weary your mind with
striving after new inventions. Still, often this use of the
imagination tends to concentrate the mind on the mystery we wish to
meditate, and to prevent our thoughts from wandering hither and
thither.....

What would it have been like to be at the Transfiguration? (My
God!!) Was it "visionary" or was it "in this world?” (I
think in this world since Jesus said one of His most frequently
mentioned commands: Do not be afraid.) Would I have been less
stunned than Peter, James and John? (I'm sure I'd be more stunned;
especially if I had to talk to Moses and Elijah. What would I say?
How do you like the weather?) What would I have felt if I were
there? (awe, humility, fear for my sanity!)

52. Being Perfected in Martyrdom

(May I Learn To Die To Myself)

Perfection of some kind is to be found in this life, and the
martyrs achieved it. That’s why, as the faithful
know, Church custom has it that at the place where the names of the
martyrs are recited at God’s alter, we
don’t pray for them, while we do pray for the
other departed brothers and sisters who are remembered there. It is
insulting, I mean, to pray for martyrs, to whose prayers we ought
rather to commend ourselves. They have tackled sin, after all, to
the point of shedding their blood. To people on the other hand, who
were still imperfect and yet partly justified, the apostle says in
his letter to the Hebrews: “For you have not yet
fought to the point of shedding blood, as you struggle against
sin.” So if they hadn’t yet shed
their blood, there can be no doubt that others had. Who had got to
the point of shedding their blood? The holy martyrs, of course.

—St.
Augustine, Sermon 159 (JTG)

I hate to say it, but I feel very uncomfortable about the
“martyr experience” of the Church.
In part, this is due to the way I was brought up in the 1950's
believing that suffering was somehow a good thing. To this day, my
siblings and I still get angry when we talk at our mother who, in
spite of all her wonderful qualities, considered herself martyred.
It has taken me many years to get over this thing about the
“glory of suffering.” Even when I
think about St. Peter, I think about the fact that he seems to have
almost insisted on being crucified upside down because he
didn’t deserve to die like his Lord. He needed
to add to his suffering to amend for his betrayal of Jesus.

Now that I’ve said this, I can also say that
I know that Jesus didn’t just suffer for the
sake of suffering but to prove the love of God for man. I also had
to learn to embrace necessary suffering in order to grow out of
various ego traits such as codependency and chemical addiction.
It’s not that I love pain.
It’s that I evidently needed the
“refining fire” of suffering to grow
out of deeply entrenched behavior. I am growing healthier as I
learn the difference between
“martyrdom” and
“legitimate suffering.”

In what ways is suffering necessary for my growth as a human
being? In what way is suffering in my life a pathological
problem?

53. On Conversion

(Lord, May You Search For and Find Me)

Conversion is love in action between God and the soul. The
principle obstacle to conversion is sin. That is why the tenderness
of God’s love is so great that he gave us Jesus
to wash away all of our sins. He does this in confession through
the merits of his Precious Blood. For that reason we go to
confession and we become sinners without sin. This is true
conversion: the love of God in the vivifying action of tender and
merciful love. The pure of heart can see God in every person. Then
naturally such a person will want to share the joy of love with
one’s own family and neighbors, especially those
who have done us harm or those whom we have harmed. This is truly
the fruit of authentic conversion, because where there is love,
there is God.

These sayings of Jesus have always taken me aback. If I had 100
sheep and lost one or had 100 coins and lost one, I would not think
it practical or reasonable to search for the one lost sheep at the
expense of the other 99 (not worth the money) or spend a large
amount of time searching for one coin (not worth the time). Jesus,
however, said these things as if it were completely understood by
his audience and very reasonable. Either people have changed
radically or Jesus was trying to jolt his listeners out of
complacency. Mother Teresa says that the pure of heart can see God
in every person and that they naturally want to share the joy of
love with those who have done us harm or those whom we have harmed.
Mother Teresa's thought is like Jesus'. In no way would I find it
comfortable to search out the person who has hurt me or who I have
hurt and to reconcile with them. I would much rather hold a grudge
or retain my guilt even if I were mostly hurting myself!

Am I grateful that God is willing to search for me even if I
believe that I am not worth the effort? Who are the lost sheep in
my life that I should pursue?

54. Every Virtuous Life Leads to God

(Lord, I Offer You All That I Am and Do)

When God the Creator made all things, he commanded the plants to
bring forth fruit each according to its own kind, he has likewise
commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to
bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one in accord with his
character, his station, and his calling.

I say that devotion must be practiced in different ways by the
nobleman and by the working man, by the servant and by the prince,
by the widow, by the unmarried girl, and by the married woman. But
even this distinction is not sufficient; for the practice of
devotion must be adapted to the strength, to the occupation, and to
the duties of each one in particular.

Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes
brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each
person becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own vocation when
he sets his vocation in the context of devotion. Through devotion,
your family cares become more peaceful, mutual love between husband
and wife becomes more sincere, the service we owe to the prince
becomes more faithful, and our work, no matter what it is, becomes
more pleasant and agreeable.

It is therefore an error and even a heresy to wish to exclude
the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the
artisan’s shops, from the courts of princes,
from family households. I acknowledge ...that the type of devotion
which is purely contemplative, monastic and religion can certainly
not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but
besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit
for perfecting those who live in a secular state.

Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we
must aspire to the life of perfection.

The more I read about St. Francis de Salle and his "Introduction
to the Devout Life,” the more I am impressed by his
relevance and timeliness. He is one of the very few 16th century
saints that speak most clearly to me in the early 21st century on
how to live a holy life in a secular society. His writing in this
selection reminds me of St. John the Baptist and his advice to
soldiers, tax collectors and other "nonreligious" types on how to
welcome the Kingdom of God.

How can I add devotion and holiness to my life as an engineer, a
husband, a grandfather, etc.?

55. Why Do We Fritter Away Our Lives?

(Lord, May I Bare Fruit For Your Kingdom)

Let us attend to ourselves, brothers, let us learn self-control
while we have time. Why do we neglect ourselves? Let us be doing
something good all the time so that we may find help in the time of
trial. Why do we fritter away our lives? We are always hearing a
great deal about the spiritual life and we don’t
care about it; we even despise it. We see our brothers snatched
away from our midst and we don’t abstain (from
passion and excess) even when we know that in a little while we too
shall be near death. Look!! Since the time we sat down at this
conference, we have used up two or three hours of our time and got
that much nearer to death. Yet we take care to exclude time from
our thoughts and we have no fear. Why do we not remember that
saying of the Senior that ,”If a man lose gold and
silver, he can always find more to replace it. Time once lost
cannot be found again by living in idleness and negligence. No
matter how hard we try to regain one hour of this time, we shall
never find it.” How many desire to hear the word of God
and find no one to expound it, while we hear and despise it and are
not stirred up by it. God knows, I am frightened by our
imperviousness. We who can be saved, and do not even desire it. For
we can cut off our unruly desires when they are newly born and we
don’t think about it, we allow them to grow up
and harden against us, so that we make the last evil greater than
the first. For, as I often tell you, it is one thing to uproot a
blade of grass and another to uproot a great tree....If we neglect
them as mere trifles they harden, and the more they harden, the
more labor is needed to get rid of them. But if they grow to any
degree of maturity inside us, we shall no longer be able to remove
them from ourselves no matter how we labor unless we have the help
of the saints interceding for us with God.

I can cut off my unruly desires when they are newly born, but if
I neglect them, they harden. The more they harden, the more labor
will be required to uproot them. If I let them mature, no amount of
labor will uproot them. St. Paul says that being busy tending my
own garden (working on my own spiritual growth), and not being a
busybody, is the best way to avoid disorderly behavior and will
insure that my well-disciplined life will be an example to
others.

In what ways is my life undisciplined and disorganized? How can
I uproot this chaotic behavior?

56. The Bond of Charity

(Lord, May I Love As You Do)

Do not think of the poor as only those with no money. Look at
each person’s needs. Perhaps you are well off in
something when someone else is in need of just that. Perhaps you
give someone a helping hand –and that is far
more important than money. You may give advice without toil or
loss, but you have given an alms.

Friends, since we are teaching, it is as if you, the
congregation, are the poor, because God has given us what we can
bestow on you. But we all receive everything from Him who alone is
rich. This is how the Church, the Body of Christ, maintains itself.
We the members are held together and are made one in charity and in
the bond of peace when each one gives what he has to the one who
lacks it. It is what you have that makes you rich: it is what you
lack that makes you poor. In this way we can all be truly
affectionate to one another and to all around us who are in
need.

St. James said it quite succinctly: Mercy triumphs over
judgment. According to St. Augustine, mercifully supplying
someone’ needs (it need not be money), is how
the Church, the Body of Christ, maintains itself. By meeting the
needs of those around me and allowing others to help me meet my own
needs, I am reducing my tendencies toward being judgmental. This
means that I, myself, will be judged less severely by God.

How am I reducing my tendency toward being judgmental of others
by learning to receive graciously the gifts that others have to
offer?

57. Prayer of Someone Fallen Into Sin

(Lord, May I Forgive As You Do)

O my Jesus! What a sight it is when You through Your mercy
return to offer Your hand and raise up a soul that has fallen in
sin after having reached this stage! How such a soul knows the
multitude of Your grandeurs and mercies and its own misery! In this
state it is in truth consumed and knows Your splendors. Here it
doesn’t dare raise its eyes, and here it raises
them up so as to know what it owes You. Here it becomes a devotee
of the Queen of heaven so that she might appease You; here it
invokes the help of the saints that fell after having been called
by You. Here it seems that everything You give it is undeserved
because it sees that it doesn’t merit the ground
on which it treads. Here, in approaching the sacraments, it has the
living faith to see the power that God has placed in them/ it
praises You because You have let such a medicine and ointment for
our wounds and because this medicine not only covers these wounds
but also takes them away completely. It is amazed by all of this.
And who, Lord of my soul, wouldn’t be amazed by
so much mercy and a favor so large for a betrayal so ugly and
abominable? I don’t know why my heart
doesn’t break as I write this! For I am a
wretched person!

Whenever I feel uncomfortable about a reading from the saints, I
better examine myself and understand why I feel this discomfort.
Although there is no indication of what the nature of St.
Teresa’s sin was, this is one of those readings
where it sounds like she is being over scrupulous (like St.
Augustine and his stealing of pears). I almost want to turn up my
nose and scoff at such self flagellation!

Then I remember what Jesus said: If any man will come after Me,
let him deny himself and follow Me. Whoever will save his life will
lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. What
gain is there if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul in
the process. What can a man give in exchange for his life?

The deeper lesson is that as the grace of Christ encourages
changes in my life, if I am to cooperate with that grace, I must
examine my behavior. While I may not have stolen the life savings
of some poor, elderly person, are my mind set and behavior free
from the tendency towards robbery; or am I still stealing
pears?

When some saints’ writings seem ludicrous to
me, am I sure that my feelings are not self-serving? Am I willing
to examine my life to understand these feelings?

58. Spiritual Principle

(Jesus, Teach Me To Give Up What Is Not For My Growth In Your
Kingdom)

Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and
by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of
the earth are created for man and that they may help him in
prosecuting the end for which he was created. From this it follows
that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and
ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to
it.

For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all
created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free
will and is not prohibited to it, so that, on our part, we want not
health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor
rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all
the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us
to the end for which we are created.

These writings of St. Paul and St. Ignatius of Loyola hit me
with the power of a left hook. It appears that everything that I
want from a human (bodily) perspective (health, riches, honor, long
life) are anathemas to the real reason for which I was created: to
praise, reverence and serve God ,and by this means, to save my
soul. St. Paul says: If I live according to the flesh, I will die,
but if by the spirit I put to death the deeds (desires?) of the
body, I will live.

How can I change my thinking about why I am here and learn to
live accordingly?

59. Unity

(May We Be One)

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is
at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the
greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestined before
the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and
unchangeable glory, being united and elected through the true
passion by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our Goal;
Abundant happiness through Jesus Christ, and his undefiled
grace.

I do not issue orders to you , as if I were some great person.
For though I am bound for the name (of Christ), I am not yet
perfect in Jesus Christ. For now I begin to be a disciple, and I
speak to you as fellow-disciples with me. For it was needful of me
to have been stirred up by you in faith, exhortation, patience, and
long-suffering. But inasmuch as love suffers me not to be silent in
regard to you, I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you
that ye would all run together in accordance with the will of God.
For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the (manifest) will
of the Father, as also bishops, settled everywhere to the utmost
bounds (of the earth), are so by the will of Jesus Christ.

Take heed, then, often to come together to give thanks to God,
and show forth His praise. For when ye come frequently together in
the same place, the powers of Satan are destroyed, and the
destruction at which he aims is prevented by the unity of your
faith. Nothing is more precious than peace, by which all war, both
in heaven and earth, is brought to an end. My soul be for yours and
theirs whom, for the honor of God, ye have sent to Smyrna; whence
also I write to you, giving thanks unto the Lord, and loving
Polycarp even as I do you. Remember me, as Jesus Christ also
remembered you. Pray ye for the Church which is in Syria, whence I
am led bound to Rome, being the last of the faithful who are there,
even as I have been thought worthy to be chosen to show forth the
honor of God. Farewell in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, our
common hope, and in the Holy Ghost. Fare ye well. Amen. Grace (be
with you).

–Ignatius of Antioch, (pupil of St. John)
Epistle to the Ephesians (CCEL)

Ignatius talks much about unity, unity in the Church hierarchy
through its bishops and priests; and unity of the faith through the
frequent coming together in the Eucharist. Behind these unities are
the unity with Jesus Christ with God which is learned, in addition
to the above, through the Scriptures. “All
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in
righteousness.”

Do I build my faith on Scripture or do I try to
“go beyond” scripture?

60. Lectio Divena

(Lord, Make Me Holy)

Our father, St. Dominic, had yet another manner of praying at
once beautiful, devout, and pleasing, which he practiced after the
canonical hours and the thanksgiving following meals. He was then
zealous and filled with the spirit of devotion which he drew from
the divine words which had been sung in the choir or refectory. Our
father quickly withdrew to some solitary place, to his cell or
elsewhere, and recollected himself in the presence of God. He would
sit quietly, and after the sign of the cross, began to read from a
book opened before him. His spirit would then be sweetly aroused as
if he heard Our Lord speaking.....As if disputing with a companion
he would at first appear somewhat impatient in his thought and
words. At the next moment he would become a quiet listener, then
again seem to discuss and contend. He seemed almost to laugh and
weep at the same time, and then, attentively and submissively,
would murmur to himself and strike his breast.

Should some curious person have desired to watch our holy father
Dominic, he would have appeared to him like Moses....who there
beheld the burning bush and heard the Lord speaking to him as he
was bowed down in the divine presence. This holy custom of our
father seems, as it were, to resemble the prophetic mountain of the
Lord inasmuch as he quickly passed upwards from reading to prayer,
from prayer to meditation, and from meditation to
contemplation.

— St. Dominic (The Nine
Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic) (CCEL)

Philippines 4:4-9

As I picture St. Dominic passing from spiritual reading, to
thoughtful reflection on the readings, to prayer to contemplation
on the Lord, I think of the words of St. Paul: Be careful for
nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known unto God. Whatsoever things are true,
honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; think on these
things.

Are my times with God joyful and full of growth? What can I do
to improve my contacts with God?

61. All for God

(May I Have Ears to Hear, Eyes to See)

Vouchsafe, O gracious and holy Father, to bestow upon me
intellect to understand Thee, perception to perceive Thee, reason
to discern Thee, diligence to seek Thee, wisdom to find Thee, a
spirit to know Thee, a heart to meditate upon Thee, ears to hear
Thee, eyes to behold Thee, a tongue to proclaim Thee, a
conversation pleasing to Thee, patience to wait for Thee, and
perseverance to look for Thee. Grant me a perfect end, Thy holy
presence, a blessed resurrection, and Thy recompense, everlasting
life.

As a person who has partial eyesight and hearing, passages like
this one can make me feel like I'm behind the "eight ball" when it
comes to receiving and passing messages from God. But then I
realize that sometimes having eyesight that is too sensitive or
hearing that is too acute can make it difficult to sort out
important information from background "noise.” In
addition, I recognize that many of the qualities described by St.
Benedict are interior qualities: understanding, perception,
discernment, diligence, wisdom, knowledge, a willing spirit, a
gentle heart, an ability to meditate, ears to hear spiritually,
eyes to behold spiritually, a tongue to proclaim truth, soothing
conversation, patience, and perseverance.

Are any "disabilities" that I have been spiritually
incapacitating? Can some of these disabilities have a positive
spiritual effect?

62. God's Will and Faith

(Thank you for faith)

O God, if only our wills be right toward Thine, do to us
whatever it may please Thee. If it be Thy will that we should be in
light, be Thou blessed; if it be Thy will that we should be in
darkness, be Thou also blessed; if Thou vouchsafe to comfort us, be
Thou blessed; if Thou afflict us, be Thou also blessed. We
cheerfully receive whatsoever Thou dost appoint, and for all that
befalls us, we give thanks.

—Thomas
a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (P&M)

Denial 3:13-18

The readings indicate that while God's will may not seem like
light/comfort, they may even seem like darkness/affliction (to the
point of being thrown into a fiery furnace!), obeying Him will
result in our highest good. The ultimate faith in God's goodness ad
love is a great gift to be thankful for.

When and how have I been tested? Can I be thankful, even when
God's will is painful?

63. Pleasing God Through Service

(Make Me An Instrument of Your Peace)

Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deserved; to give and
not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil
and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do Thy will.

—St.
Ignatius of Loyola (T&M)

O Lord, Grant me prudently to study, rightly to understand, and
perfectly to fulfill that which is pleasing to You, to the praise
and glory of Your name. Amen

Serving and pleasing God by serving others with our gifts is at
the heart of the Christian message. But what are our gifts?
I’m sure that while Paul talked about specific
spiritual gifts (tongues, interpretation, discernment, etc.) , this
was not all that he was referring to. Paul was a tent
maker–not very prestigious or
exciting–but it allowed him to pursue his real
spiritual mission without burdening others since a laborer is worth
his wage. In the last several years, I’ve
recognized that God is allowing me to use my technical skills to
earn resources to pursue my more relevant spiritual work, whether
that is social work, volunteer work, writing or a combination of
these.

Is God calling me to use my more technical gifts to pursue a
more spiritual course of action?

64. Branches and Vessels

(You Are the Vine, I–the Branch)

Make me, O Lord, an instrument of thy peace. Where there is
hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there
is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is
sadness, joy; where there is darkness, light.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be
consoled as to console; not so much to be understood as to
understand; not so much to be loved as to love. For it is in giving
that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in
dying that we are born again into eternal life.

This is my favorite prayer. At this stage in my life, I
recognize that being God’s
“vessel” or
“branch” is the greatest of
blessings. To experience God using me to heal others is worth more
than money, power, or prestige. Every day I ask God not to let me
build my life on false Gods (jobs, relationships, skills/talents,
security) because these are all gifts from God to me. I do not want
to build my life on my insatiable ego fears or desires either. I
ask that I may only build my life on my relationship with God and
His will for me.

Do I recognize that being God’s
“vessel” or
“branch” is among the greatest of
blessings?

65. Searching Without End

(Lord, Where Do You Live)

It is a great good to seek God; the soul knows no greater
blessing. It is the first gift of the soul as well as the final
stage in its progress. This gift is inferior to none, and yields
place to none. What could be superior to it, when nothing has a
higher place?

What virtue can be attributed to anyone who does not seek God?
What boundary can be set for anyone who does seek Him? The psalmist
says: "Seek his face always". This seeking is never fulfilled, for
even when it has found God, it will not cease to seek.

Not with steps of the feet is God sought but with the desire of
the heart. When the soul happily finds Him, its desire is not
quenched but kindled...there will be a fullness of joy, but there
will be no end to desire, and therefore no end to the search.

Think of this eagerness to see God as not caused by His absence,
for God is always present, and think of the desire for God as
without fear of failure, for grace is abundantly present.

My eagerness to seek God is not caused by His absence from my
life but by His nearness to and love for my soul. John and Andrew
recognized this in Jesus and followed Him, asking where He lived so
that they could spend time with Him. The other disciples obviously
did the same shortly thereafter. This thirsting for God, this
desire of the heart, leads to all good things. I must recognize
where this longing comes from and not be distracted by the things
of the flesh and the world which will never satisfy this
longing.

Do I go to “broken cisterns” to
quench my spiritual thirst? Do I recognize where my thirst really
comes form?

66. Accepting My Weakness

(Only Say the Word and I Will Be Healed)

If Christ submitted Himself to human misery so that He might not
simply know of it, but experience it as well, how much more ought
you not (try to deny) your human condition, but pay attention to
what you are, because you are truly full of misery. This is the
only way to respond, if you are to become merciful. If you have
eyes for the shortcomings of your neighbor and not for your own, no
feeling of mercy will arise in you but rather indignation.

You will be more ready to judge than to help, to crush in the
spirit of anger than to instruct in the spirit of
genteelness....You should treat an ailing brother or sister with
the same spirit of genteelness with which you would like to be
treated yourself in your weakness.

This remarkable reading of St. Barnard sounds like modern
psychology. Unless I deal with my own issues/shortcomings, I will
externalize them into others and then act harshly toward these
other even when they are mostly mirrors of me. Jesus will then have
to respond to me as he responded to the Pharisees when asked why he
hung around with “sinners”: I have
not come to call the (self) righteous but sinners (those who
recognize that they need healing.)

Do I understand that unless I treat others with the same
gentleness that I would like to be treated, I am judging myself? Do
I recognize my need for healing?

67. Names for God

(Yahweh, I Know You Are Near)

Thee, O brightness of the glory of the Eternal Father, who was
revealed in the body of our manhood, and dist. enlighten our
darkness by Thy light, we confess and bless and glorify at all
times. Glory be to the eternal mercy, which sent Thee unto us O
Christ, Light of the world.

O Wisdom that calmest out of the mouth of the Most High reaching
from one end to another mightily and sweetly ordering all things,
come and teach us the way of understanding. O dayspring, splendor
of the Eternal Light and Sun of Righteousness, come and enlighten
those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

These two writings from ancient liturgies and the verses from
St. John give many names for Jesus: Bread of Life, Good Shepherd,
Son of God, Lamb of God, Resurrection and Life, Savior of the
World, the Way, Truth and Life, Glory of the Eternal Father,
Christ, Wisdom, Dayspring, Eternal Light, Son of Righteousness,
etc.

In addition, there are many more obscure animal metaphoric names
for Jesus. For example a plain chant from medieval Germany
indicates the following;

The Unicorn is taken captive and brought to the court of kings
in the snare of the hunters A Snake is lifted upon a pole, He who
was wounded is healed by the Serpent's presence.

By the Pelican's wounds, life returns to those laid low for
their sin in wretched death.

The light of the Phoenix is burnt out and with it, all the
wrongs of the whole world.

The water snake enters the Crocodile, tears out his entrails and
kills him-He comes back alive.

The Lion slept three days and then the raging serpent restored
him.

What metaphoric names do I use for Jesus?

68. Light = Truth

(God Is Light)

Lord Jesus Christ, who for the redemption of the world did
ascend the wood of the Cross, that You might enlighten the whole
world which lay in darkness; pour that light, we pray You, into our
souls and bodies, whereby we may be enabled to attain to the light
eternal; who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, lives and reigns,
One God, world without end.

We beseech You, O Lord, let our hearts be graciously enlightened
by the holy radiance of Your Son's incarnation, that so we may
escape the darkness of this world, and by His guidance, attain to
the country of eternal brightness.

Do I accept the truth about God's Son? Do I accept the truth
about myself?

69. Renewing Our Minds

(Renew Me, O Holy Spirit)

O God, who in Thy eternal wisdom, did make man when as yet he
was not, and in Thy mercy did restore him when he was lost; grant
we beseech Thee, to those souls of ours, so made and so restored,
that, by Thine inspiration, we may love Thee with all of our minds
, and turn unto Thee with all of Thy hearts.

Grant to us, O Lord, not to mind earthly things, but rather to
love heavenly things; and while all things around us pass away, we
may ever fast hold on to those things which abide for evermore.

"Do not model your behavior on the contemporary world, but let
the renewing of your mind transform you, so that you may discern
for yourself what is the will of God..." How? This is done by
cooperating with God's inspiration to love heavenly things
including God Himself. By modeling my behavior on that of Jesus, I
will not be overcome by this world.

What in my life needs transformation? In what ways am I free of
the lure of this world?

70. Forgiveness of Sins Brings Love In Action

(Your Sins Are Forgiven)

Those who really love God love all good, seek all good, help
forwards all good, praise all good, and invariably join forces with
good men and help and defend them. They love only truth and things
worthy of love. Do you think it possible that anyone who really and
truly loves God, can love vanities, riches, worldly pleasures or
honors? Can he engage in strife or feel envy? No: for his only
desire is to please the Beloved. Such persons die with longing for
Him to love them and so they will give their lives to learn how to
love Him better. Will they hide their love? No: if their love for
God is genuine they cannot...There are degrees of love for God
which shows itself in proportion to its strength. If there is
little of it, it shows itself but little; if there is much, it
shows itself a great deal. But it always shows itself, whether
little or much, provided it is real love for God.

To convert theoretical love for God (love on the "inside")into
actual love for God (love on the "outside") requires forgiveness.
This forgiveness is the result of my willingness to be forgiven by
recognizing my need for forgiveness. Jesus says: "Her many sins
have been forgiven hence she has shown great love. But the one to
whom little is forgiven, loves little." St. Teresa says: "There are
degrees of love for God...If there is little, it shows itself but
little, if there is much it shows itself a great deal."

Do my actions suggest that I love God and that my sins have been
forgiven? Do I believe God is withholding this forgiveness,
therefore, I cannot act with greater love? What do I need to do on
the "inside" to act with greater love on the "outside"?

71. The Love of a Father

(Father, Accept Me Home)

It must be realized...that these two things--surrendering our
will to God and forgiving others--apply to all. True, some practice
them more and some less as has been said: those who are perfect
will surrender their wills like the perfect souls they are and will
forgive others with the perfection that has been described. For our
own part, sisters, we will do what we can, and the Lord will accept
it all. It is as if He were to make a kind of agreement on our
behalf with His Eternal Father, and to say: Do this, Lord, and my
brethren will do that." It is certain that He for His own part will
not fail us. Oh, how well He pays us and how limitless are His
rewards!

These readings from St. Teresa and the parable of the Prodigal
Son bring tears to my eyes this morning. God, my Father, is willing
to accept my best even when it is not very good (although He will
keep nudging me to the dreaded "P" word: Perfection) and He is
always scanning the horizons waiting eagerly for my return home so
that He can celebrate His love for me! All I need to do is accept
His gift (His will) and act on it through the forgiveness of
others. This is so much more beautiful than the fear and isolation
I felt in growing up around my alcoholic father. It is also much
more lenient than the angry, punishing Father God I was raised to
believe in.

How has my image of God changed since my youth? Do I still
equate images of God with my earthly father?

72. Advice for Husbands!

(I Value Your Love)

Whenever you give your wife advice, always begin by telling her
how much you love her. Nothing will persuade her so well to admit
the wisdom of your words as your assurance that you are speaking to
her with sincere affection. Say to her: “Our
time here is brief and fleeting, but if we are pleasing to God, we
can exchange this life for the kingdom to come. Then we will be
perfectly one both with Christ and each other, and our pleasure
will know no bounds. I value your love above all things, and
nothing would be so bitter or painful to me as our being at odds
with each other. Even if I lose everything, any affliction is
tolerable if you will be true to me.” Show her that you
value her company, and prefer being at home to being out. Esteem
her in the presence of your friends and children. Praise and show
admiration for her good acts; and if she ever does anything
foolish, advise her patiently.

Pray together at home and go to Church; when you come back home,
let each ask the other the meaning of the readings and the prayers.
If you are overtaken by poverty...remind one another that nothing
in life is to be feared, except offending God. If your marriage is
like this, your perfection will rival the holiest of monks.

These readings raise a tough issue: Which relationship is most
important and should take precedence in my
life–relationship with myself, my spouse, my
children or God? In this self-centered
“me” period of history, the answer
seems clear, but does it work? The large number of broken homes and
marriages indicates that it does not. Should my children rule my
life? I wouldn’t want a three-year-old driving
my car or making my financial decisions. It appears that if my
household serves the Lord, if my relationship with Jesus is
primary, every other relationship falls into place in the long
run.

Who or what rules my life? Does it work?

73. Practicing The Presence of God

(Lord, Be My Brother and Friend)

Dear Friend: I write because you want to hear from me so badly
about how I arrived at the habitual sense of
God’s presence. This sense is
God’s gift... I sought for no more than how to
be God’s and God’s alone. I
renounced–because I loved Him so
much– everything not of God. Now I began to live
as if He and I were the only ones alive in the world....Sometimes I
thought of Him as my Father. Always I worshiped Him as often as I
could, keeping my mind in His holy presence. When I wandered, I
brought Him back to my mind. This was a painful exercise, but I
persisted, even through all difficulties. But never did I trouble
or disquiet my mind when my thoughts wandered involuntarily. I made
practicing His presence my business as much right through the day
as at the appointed times of prayer. .... Though I have practiced
His presence very imperfectly, I have greatly benefitted from what
I have done. The benefits...all come from God-His mercy and
goodness-because we can do nothing without Him.... But when we
stand firm to keep ourselves in His holy presence and to make Him
absolutely central in our lives, this not only hinders us from
offending Him...it also gives rise to freedom...and ...a
familiarity with God that makes possible asking and receiving the
graces we need..

To summarize: Repeating these acts often translates them into
habit, then the presence of God becomes...natural to us. Please
join me in giving Him thanks for His great goodness to me; I can
never wonder enough at the many favors He has done for so miserable
a sinner as I! I want the whole world , material things included,
to praise Him. Amen

–Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, Practice
of the Presence of God (JTG)

Both St. Paul and Brother Lawrence talk of a personal
relationship with God. Brother Lawrence indicates that this
relationship gives him freedom and familiarity with God (remember
Jeremiah?) that makes it possible to ask for and receive the grace
he needs. But, as Paul indicates, God can and will say
”˜no’ to specific requests
that are not for our highest spiritual good.

Am I willing to accept my “thorns of the
flesh” that teach me humility and dependence on God?
How would I describe my relationship with God?

74. Testing the Spirits

(He Who Is In Me Is Greater Than He Who Is In The
World)

The most important work in spiritual struggle is to enter the
heart and there to wage war with Satan; to hate Satan and to fight
him by opposing his thoughts. If a man outwardly keeps his body
free from lusts and corruption, and yet inwardly commits adultery
before God by fornication in his thoughts, then is there no profit
whatever in keeping the body pure. There is adultery committed by
the body and there is adultery of the soul, communing with
Satan.

I rarely think of my spiritual battle as one against Satan. I
see it mostly as a battle against my own lusts (the flesh) and the
attitudes of society (the world). I suspect that since Satan is a
defeated enemy (he has lost the war but still tries to do some
skirmishing), he relies more on the flesh and the world to do his
work than his own presence. His presence may only be felt when his
other two allies fail. Perhaps this is why the desert fathers of
the early Church mention him so much: they had given up the world,
they were constantly working on their fleshly issues. The
“general of darkness” had to become
involved.

Do the “spirits” of society and
the flesh that I listen to acknowledge Jesus? How comfortable am I
when my “guiding principles” do not
acknowledge God?

75. The Stairway To Heaven Is Also the Door to My Soul
(Knock And the Door Will Open)

Try to enter your inner treasure-house and you will see the
treasure-house of heaven. For both the one and the other are the
same, and one and the same entrance reveals them both. The ladder
leading to the Kingdom is concealed within you, that is, in your
soul. Wash yourself from sin and you will see the rungs of the
ladder by which you can ascend thither.

—St. Isaac of Syria,
Philokalia: On the Prayer of the Heart

Much labor and effort are needed in prayer to attain to an
untroubled state of thought; that other heaven of the heart where,
according to the Apostle, Christ dwells: Know ye not your own
selves; how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye fail the test?
(2 Cor. 13:5)

Jesus said (in one translation): The Kingdom of God is within
you. The door or ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven is planted in my
own soul! Jacob saw it in a dream and thought it was a
characteristic of the “place” where
he slept, not realizing he was looking through a window into his
own soul. How do I learn to recognize this ladder or door? I must
purify myself from sin and attain a calm mind through prayer and
meditation.

Am I willing to continue the process of purification and prayer
so as to cooperate fully with God’s grace to
enter His Kingdom?

76. The Cleansing of Mental Clutter

(Jesus....Mercy)

If...you do not succeed in entering into the realm of the
heart...do what I shall now tell you and, with God's help, you will
find what you seek. You know that in every man inner talking is in
the breast. For, when our lips are silent, it is in the breast that
we talk and discourse with ourselves, pray and sing psalms, and do
other things. Thus, having banished every thought from this inner
talking..., give it the following short prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, have mercy upon me!"--and force it, instead of all
other thought, to have only this one constant cry within. If you
continue to do this constantly, with your whole attention, then in
time this will open for you the way to the heart which I have
described. There can be no doubt about this, for we have proved it
ourselves by experience. If you do this with strong desire and
attention, ...a whole host of virtues will come to you...

"Lord Jesus, have mercy on me....for Your love endures
forever.” What the mind dwells on it becomes. If it
dwells on undisciplined and random thoughts, it will become
chaotic. If it concentrates on beauty and simplicity, it becomes
calm and clear. The Jesus Prayer and responsorial psalms can both
be used to calm the mind and open it to devotion.

Am I committed to practicing centering prayer that will lead to
the prayer of silence? What are my favorite centering prayers?

77. Purity and Passionlessness

(Jesus...Jesus)

True reason, such as man had in the beginning, cannot be had or
acquired by any man, who has not first been purified and become
passionless. Of purity we are deprived by unreasoning tendencies of
the senses, and of passionlessness--by the corrupted state of the
flesh.

True reason belongs only to those who have become saints through
acquiring purity. None who are wise in words have ever had pure
reason, because, from birth, they let their reasoning powers be
corrupted by unseemly thoughts. The sensory and prolix spirit of
the wisdom of this age, so rich in words, which create the illusion
of great knowledge but actually fills one with the wildest
thoughts, has its stronghold in this prolixity, which deprives man
of essential wisdom, true contemplation, and the knowledge of the
one and indivisible.

The readings indicate the importance of the prayer of silence.
"The spirit of this age, rich in words, deprives me of true
contemplation and knowledge which goes forth throughout the world
with no word or sound...." This "silence" is the hardest thing for
me to achieve. I must continue to make the time to practice
silence.

How do I avoid discouragement with my imperfect attempts at
silent prayer and meditation?

May the Holy Spirit awaken me from my slumber to be what I was
created to be: a Son of God. Teach me, Holy Spirit, to both live in
You and follow You by cultivating Your fruits of love, joy and
peace. Amen.

How will I know if I am "awake"? How can I cooperate with the
Holy Spirit to awaken?

The beauty and diversity of the natural world always fill me
with joy and awe, especially when I'm in the back country of our
national parks. God has made us the conscious witnesses to His
artistry. He has created us as little less than "gods”,
angels in training, perhaps. What a shame and loss if I do not take
the time to be conscious of this beauty. By not doing so I may
trivialize creation and myself. This can lead to destruction of the
natural world, including ourselves, and reduce our respect for the
importance of humankind's place in creation.

Do I make enough time to leave man's creation and return to
God's creation?

80. Awakening In Christ

(The Body of Christ, Amen)

We awaken in Christ's body as Christ awakens our bodies,

and my poor hand is Christ, He enters my foot and is infinitely
me.

I move my hand, and wonderfully my hand becomes Christ

becomes all of Him (for God is indivisibly whole, seamless in
His Godhood).

I move my foot, and at once He appears like a flash of
lightening.

Do my words seem blasphemous?-- Then open your heart to Him and
let yourself receive the one who is opening to you so deeply.

For if we genuinely love Him, we wake up inside Christ's body,
where all our body, all over, every most hidden part of it, is
realized as joy in Him, and He makes us, utterly, real and
everything that is hurt, everything that seemed to us dark, harsh,
shameful, maimed, ugly, irreparably damaged, is in Him transformed
and recognized as whole, as lovely, and radiant in His light we
awaken as the Beloved in every last part of our body.

What part of Christ's Body am I? As I ponder this, no specific
part comes to mind. While I cannot imagine myself as an "eye" given
my poor eyesight, I can imagine being a part of Christ's spiritual
eye--consciously watching the world. The same can be said for the
other body parts. I suspect that ultimately I am meant to be a
mirror image of Christ in all aspects.

How am I becoming a mirror image of Jesus?

81. The Saints Are United With Us

(Hail Mary....The Lord Is With You)

Inasmuch as God continually sends us inspirations by means of
His Angels, we may fitly send back our aspirations through the same
channel. The souls of the holy dead, resting in Paradise, who are,
as our Lord Himself has told us, "as the Angels in
Heaven,” are also united to us in their prayers. My
child, let us gladly join our hearts with these heavenly blessed
ones; for even as the newly-fledged nightingale learns to sing from
the elder birds, so by our sacred communing with the Saints we
shall learn better to pray and sing the praises of the Lord.

Honor, revere and respect the Blessed Virgin Mary with a very
special love, she is the Mother of our Sovereign Lord, and so we
are her children. Let us think of her with all the love and
confidence of affectionate children, let us desire her love and
strive with true filial hearts to imitate her graces.

Seek to be familiar with the Angels; learn to realize that they
are continually present, although invisible. Specially love and
revere the Guardian Angel of the Diocese in which you live, those
of the friends who surround you, and your own. Commune with them
frequently, join in their songs of praise, and seek their
protection and help in all you do, spiritual or temporal.

We are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's
household. Before my mother died, she said that she would pray for
us if she could when she entered Heaven and that we should all
place rosaries in her casket. To this day, seventeen years after
her death, I can still feel her presence at times, knowing that she
is praying for me as much as she did when she was in the world.
While I do not know if the angels and saints need our prayers, I do
know that as members of a loving and extended family, they love us
and long for our good.

What does the "communion of saints" mean to me?

82. How to Hear and Read God's Word

(The Law of the Lord Is Perfect)

Cultivate a special devotion to God's Word, whether studied
privately or in public; always listen to it with attention and
reverence , strive to profit by it, and do not let it fall to the
ground, but receive it within your heart as a precious balm,
thereby imitating the Blessed Virgin, who "kept all these sayings
in her heart." Remember that our Lord receives our words of prayer
according to the way in which we receive His word s in
teaching.

You should always have some good, devout book at hand, such as
the writings of Saints Bonaventura, Gerson, Denis the Carthusian,
Blosius, Grenada, Stella, Arias, Pinella, Da Ponte, Avilla, the
Spiritual Bombat, the Confessions of St. Augustine, St. Jerome's
Epistles, or the like, and daily read some small portion
attentively, as though you were reading letters sent by the Saints
from Paradise to teach you the way thither, and encourage you to
follow them. Read the Lives of the Saints too, which are as a
mirror to you of Christian life, and try to imitate their actions
according to your circumstances; for although many things which the
Saints did may not be practicable for those who live in the world,
they may be followed, more or less. Thus, in our spiritual retreats
we imitate the solitude of the first hermit Saint Paul, in the
practice of poverty of St. Francis, and so on. Of course some Lives
throw much more light upon our daily course than others, such as
the Life of St. Theresa, the first Jesuits, St. Charles Borronomeo,
St. Louis, St. Bernard, St. Francis, and such like. Others are more
the subjects of our admiring wonder than of imitation such as St.
Mary of Egypt, St. Simeon Stylites, St. Catherine of Genoa, and St.
Catherine of Sienna, St. Angela, etc., although these should tend
to kindle a great love of God in our hearts.

“The precepts of the Lord are right. By them
your servant is formed.” While I've read scripture for
the last thirty years, I have only recently begun to read the
writings of the Saints and the early Church fathers. (A wonderful
source of such writings can be found at www.ccel.org) Along with
Scripture, other meditative sources and more recent writings, I am
encouraged to live a holy life. Overall, I spend at least one hour
each day in spiritual reading.

Do I spend enough time with spiritual reading? How can I create
more time for this?

83. Converting Evil Into Good

(Jesus, Be My Light)

Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is inside you, what you
bring forth will save you. If you don't bring forth what is inside
you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you.

Jesus said: "Blessed are those who have chosen their solitude,
for they will find the Kingdom of Heaven."

These short readings are from one of the uncanonical Gnostic
gospels from the first century. They warn me to take the time for
silent self-examination to ensure that the light in me (my reason,
my spirit), is not actually in darkness (fear based). Until the
last twelve years, I was often afraid to examine myself. I thought
I would find the devil. Instead, I found a wounded and lonely child
that would act out to get love and attention. I needed to help this
part of me "grow up" or it would ultimately destroy me.

How do I take ownership of the darkness within me?

84. Speaking By Example

(I Am To Be A Light of the World)

While he was staying in Siena, he was visited by a Doctor of
Theology from the Order of Preachers, a man who was both humble and
sincerely spiritual. When he had discussed the words of our Lord
with blessed Francis for some while, this Doctor asked him about
the passage in Ezekiel: “When I threaten the
sinner with doom of death, it is for thee to give him word and warn
him.”

And he said, “Good Father, I know many people
who are in mortal sin, and do not warn them of their wickedness.
Will their souls be required at my hand?” Blessed
Francis humbly answered that he was no scholar , so that it would
be more profitable for him to receive instruction from his
questioner than to offer his own opinion on Scripture. The humble
Doctor then added, “ Brother, although I have
heard this passage expounded by various learned men, I would be
glad to know how you interpret it.” So blessed Francis
said, “If the passage is to be understood in
general terms, I take it to mean that a servant of God should burn
and shine in such a way by his own life and holiness that he
rebukes all wicked people by the light of his example and the
devoutness of his conversation; in this way the brightness of his
life and the fragrance of his reputation will make all men aware of
their own wickedness.”

Greatly edified, the Doctor went away, and said to the
companions of blessed Francis, “My brothers,
this man’s theology is grounded on purity and
contemplation, and resembles a flying eagle, but our knowledge
crawls about the ground on its belly.”

“(I) am the light of the world and my light
must shine before others so that they may see my good deeds and
give glory to God.” This reading teaches me that while
I grow in holiness for my own joy and salvation, the living of the
holy life is also the greatest of teachers to others and silently
shouts volumes to others, much more than an ability to quote
Scripture, chapter and verse.

How does my life proclaim the Gospel?

85. The Holy Discipleship of Marriage

(I Am Part of Christ's Bride)

Both celibacy and marriage have their own different forms of
service and ministry to the Lord; I have in mind the caring for
one’s wife and children. For it seems that the
particular characteristic of the married state is that it gives the
man who desires a perfect marriage an opportunity to take
responsibility for everything in the home which he shares with his
wife. The apostle says that one should appoint bishops who by their
oversight over their own house have learned to be in charge of the
whole church. Let each man therefore fulfill his ministry by the
work in which he was called, that he may be free in Christ and
receive the proper reward of his ministry.

In general all the epistles of the apostle Paul teach
self-control and continence and contain numerous instructions about
marriage, begetting children, and domestic life. But they nowhere
rule out self-controlled marriage. Rather they preserve the harmony
of the law and the gospel and approve both the man who with thanks
to God enters upon marriage with sobriety and the man who in
accordance with the Lord’s will lives as a
celibate, even as each individual is called, making his choice
without blemish and in perfection...

Paul says that the unmarried cares for the things of the Lord,
but he who is married how he can please his wife. What then? Is it
not lawful also for those who wish to please their wives according
to the will of God to give thanks to God? Is it not allowable for
both the married man and his wife to care for things of the Lord
together? But just as the unmarried woman cares for the things of
the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit, so also the
married woman cares in the Lord for the things of her husband and
the things of the Lord, the one as a wife, the other as a
virgin.

As a married man with no children, I pray daily that the Lord
will heal my wife and me of all our weakness and problems so that
we may more fully use the gifts we have been given for
God’s glory and our joy. I pray that we may be
used as healing vessels to a greater extent as a couple than we
could if we were single. In a way, Christ is meant to be the third
partner in our marriage, which makes us a little church.

In what ways can I make the Lord an increasingly important part
of my marriage?

86. Ready To Leave

(Love Never Dies)

I am now ready to leave. I have my passport for Heaven, and it
is my dear father who has obtained this grace for me. On the
29th he gave me the assurance that I would soon go to
join him.......

I have to tell you, little brother, that we
don’t understand Heaven in the same way. You
think that, once I share in the justice and holiness of God, I
won’t be able to excuse your faults as I did
when I was on earth. Are you forgetting that I shall also share in
the infinite mercy of the Lord? I believe that the Blessed in
Heaven have great compassion for our miseries. They remember that
when they were weak and mortal like us, they committed the same
faults themselves and went through the same struggles, and their
fraternal tenderness becomes still greater then it ever was on
earth. It’s on account of this that they never
stop watching over us and praying for us....

A Dieu, dear little brother, may God give us the grace to love
Him and to save our souls for Him. This is the wish of your
unworthy little Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy
Face.

—St.
Therese of Lisieux, Letter to Maurice Belliere, seminarian for the
diocese of Baeux (JTG)

The earliest written example of the intercession of the saints
in Judaism occurs in the Book of Maccabees from the second century
before Christ. It relates a dream in which Jeremiah, the beloved
prophet of Israel, is still praying and interceding for Israel out
of love several hundred years after his death. St. Theresa, 2,000
years later, also indicates how much the saints love us and share
in the infinite mercy of God (not just His holiness and justice). I
take comfort in this belief that love never dies, and neither does
the power of prayer!

Do I pray for others every day, even when I
don’t feel moved to do so?

87. The Manifestation of Christ

(Lord, Bid Me Come)

God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and
invisible has sent from heaven, and placed among men, Him who is
the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and has firmly
established Him in their hearts. This messenger He sent to them.
Was it then, as one might conceive, for the purpose of exercising
tyranny, or of inspiring fear and terror? By no means, but under
the influence of clemency and meekness. As a king sends his son,
who is also a king, so sent He Him, as God He sent Him, as to men
He sent Him, as a Savior He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade,
not to compel us, for violence has no place in the character of
God. As calling us He sent Him, not as vengefully pursuing us, as
loving us He sent Him, not as judging us. For He will yet send Him
to judge us , and who shall endure His appearing?

“Take my yoke and learn of me and you will
find rest for your souls for I am meek and humble of
heart.” Jesus never inspired terror or fear, was never
violent or vengeful, and always acted with love and clemency. Even
the cleansing fire of His judgment doesn’t
inspire fear in me anymore. Although it is painful at times to
experience His judgment, it is the pain of healing at the hands of
One who loves me and wants my highest good.

Do I fear the judgment of Christ or do I try to cooperate with
His judgment as a part of my healing and growth? Do I believe that
God would ever do anything to “hurt”
me? How and why?

88. The Relations of Christians to the World

(My Weakness Invites God’s
Strength)

To sum up all in one word- what the soul is in the body, that
are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the
members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the
cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the
body, and Christians dwell in the world but are not of the world.
The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians
are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains
invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it though
itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying
pleasures, the world also hates Christians, though in nowise
injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh
that hates it..., Christians likewise love those that hate them.
The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body,
and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet
they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a
mortal tabernacle, and Christians dwell as sojourners in
corruptible bodies, looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the
heavens. The soul, when but ill provided with food and drink,
becomes better, in like manner, the Christians, though subjected
day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has
assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for
them to forsake.

God has chosen those who feel a need for Him to carry His
message. This feeling of need requires humility borne of weakness,
poverty, and other qualities that the world shuns as meaningless,
foolish, and contemptible. Our own flesh may agree with this
opinion of the world at the same time we are being transformed into
the Body of Christ! Yet we, and our growth experience, are vitally
important. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that
very body, and Christians are confined in the world, as in a
prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world.

In what ways does my life help to preserve the world? Do I feel
like a prisoner in this world? Do I feel like a prisoner in this
body?

89. Plunging Into the Vision of God

(Jesus, May I Feel Your Presence)

When a man walks into the sea up to his knees or waist, he can
see the water all around him. But when he dives into the water, he
can no longer see anything outside, and he knows only that his
whole body is in the water. This is what happens to those who
plunge into the vision of God.

The more a man enters the light of understanding, the more aware
he is of his own ignorance. And when the light reveals itself fully
and unites with him and draws him into itself, so that he finds
himself alone in a sea of light, then he is emptied of all
knowledge and immersed in absolute unknowing.

Our mind is pure and simple. When it is emptied of thought, it
enters the pure and simple light of God, and finds nothing but the
light.

This reading says something very important. At some point, head
knowledge becomes a hindrance to spiritual experience. While I may
not have experiences like those of St. Paul or St. Symeon, I am
meant to know God, not just know about God. I am meant to be in a
relationship with God, not just acquiring facts about God.
Relationships of all types, including with God, require time or
there is no relationship.

Do I intellectualize my relationship with God too much? How can
I avoid this?

90. Answering the Call

(May Your Thoughts Become My Thoughts)

O most merciful God, we pray that You would enter into our souls
which You prepared for Your reception by the desire which You
Yourself inspired. For before we called upon You, You had called
us, and had sought us, that we might seek You. Give us then
thyself, O our God.

“Seek out the Lord while He is still to be
found, call to Him while He is still near.” The Lord is
always available to be found, He is nearer than my skin or my
breath. I move away from Him, not He from me. The Lord is always
calling me, knocking on the door of my soul and wanting to stay
with me. Will I let Him in?

How do I shut out the Lord? How do I break down the
barriers?

91. God Cannot Resist His Own Nature

(Faith Equals Healing)

God must act and pour Himself into you the moment he finds you
ready. Don't imagine that God can be compared to an earthly
carpenter, who acts or doesn’t act, as he
wishes: who can will to do something or leave it undone, according
to His pleasure. It is not that way with God: where and when God
finds you ready, He must act and overflow into you, just as when
the air is clear and pure, the sun must overflow into it and cannot
refrain from doing that.

"Your faith has saved you." This is what Jesus told the woman
with the hemorrhage after she was healed without His conscious
knowledge. Her faith removed a blockage that allowed the power of
God to fill her with healing. He faith, a gift from God as well as
something in her own control, made the difference.

What are the blocks to my faith? How can they be removed?

92. Nothing Defeats the Will of God

(I Was Created Good)

You might ask, "How can I know if something is God's will?" My
answer is, "If it were not God's will, it wouldn't exist even for
an instant; so if something happens, it must be His will." If you
truly enjoyed God's will, you would feel exactly as though you were
in the kingdom of heaven, whatever happened to you or didn't happen
to you.

Everything God created is good and everything that happens, God
allows. This implies one of two things: (1) The things that I may
consider evil that happen to me are in fact a good for me if I have
the right attitude toward them; and (2) At the deepest level of
reality (eternity), things that seem to be happening are not
happening at all--almost like dreaming. The truth may be a mixture
of the two.

How can I change my attitude about the "evil" that happens to me
or in the world? What if the life I experience is a kind of "dream"
from which I must awaken?

93. The Second Appearance of the Sacred Heart

(I Am Saved By the Blood of Christ)

I saw this divine Heart as on a throne of flames, more brilliant
than the sun and transparent as crystal. It had it's adorable wound
and was encircled with a crown of thorns, which signified the
pricks our sins caused Him. It was surmounted by a cross which
signified that, from the first moment of His Incarnation, ...the
cross was planted in It; that it was filled....with all the
bitterness, humiliation, poverty, sorrow and contempt His sacred
humanity would have to suffer during the whole course of His life
and during His holy Passion.

He made me understand that the ardent desire He had of being
loved by men and drawing them from the path of perdition into which
Satan was hurrying them in great numbers had caused Him to fix upon
this plan of manifesting His Heart to men, together with all it's
treasures of love, mercy, grace, sanctification, and salvation.
This He did in order that those who were willing to do all in their
power to render and to procure for Him honor, love and glory might
be enriched abundantly... with these divine treasures of the Heart
of God...It must be honored under the symbol of the Heart of flesh,
Whose image He wished to be publicly exposed. He wanted me to carry
it ...over my heart, that He might imprint His love there, fill my
heart with all the gifts with which His own is filled, and destroy
all inordinate affection. Wherever this sacred image would be
exposed for veneration He would pour fourth His graces and
blessings. This devotion was as a last effort of His love which was
to favor men in these last centuries with this loving redemption,
in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan, which He
intended to destroy, and in order to put us under the sweet liberty
of the empire of His love. This He would establish in the hearts of
all those who would embrace this devotion.

"Whenever the sacred image would be exposed for veneration, He
would pour forth His grace and blessings." "Make a bronze serpent
and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks
upon it, he will recover." When I read the account of Ezekiel's
mystical vision and the case of God healing under the symbol of a
bronze snake, I don't find it unusual for God to continue to work
in a similar manner today.

Am I grateful for God's special revelations of love? Or do I
doubt?

94. Total Surrender

(May I Love Through Service)

Our Call-- He has chosen us; we have not first chosen Him. But
we must respond by making our society something beautiful for
God--something very beautiful. For this we must give all--our
utmost. We must cling to Jesus, grasp Him, have a grip on Him, and
never let go for anything. We must fall in love with Jesus.

Our Response-- The spirit of our society is one of total
surrender, loving trust and cheerfulness as lived by Jesus and Mary
in the Gospel.

Our Way of Life-- Just as the seed is meant to be a tree, we are
meant to grow into Jesus. Each of us will accept: to live the life
of poverty in cheerful trust, to imitate the charity of Mary...and
to offer cheerful obedience in inward joy.

Our Life of Prayer and Contemplation-- Jesus has drawn us to be
souls of prayer. Jesus is our prayer and He is also the answer to
all our prayer. He has chosen to be Himself in us the living song
of love, praise, adoration, thanksgiving, intercession, and
reparation to the Father in the name of the whole creation,
especially the poorest of the poor and those who do not pray, who
do not know how to pray, who do not dare and do not want to
pray.

Our Life of Service and Evangelization-- Faith in Action is
Love, Love in Action is Service. We need to be pure of heart to see
Jesus in the person of the poorest of the poor. Therefore the more
repugnant the work, or the more disfigured or deformed the image of
God in the person, the greater will be our faith and loving
devotion in seeking the face of Jesus, and lovingly ministering to
Him in the distressing disguise.

Mother Teresa and her community took their faith and works very
seriously, just like the early Church as described in Acts. The
main difference is that the lay-people of the early Church were
expected to act like a “kingdom of
priests” even though they were not clergy. While it is
clear that a community like Mother Teresa’s
could not be lay-people, it is also true that the lay-people of
today fall far short in their faith and actions when compared with
those of the early Church.

In what ways can my life as a layman be made similar to the
laymen of the early Church?

95. Transforming Union

(Jesus, Make Me Transparent to Your Grace)

The center of the soul is God. When the soul shall have reached
Him, according to its essence, and according to the power of its
operations, it will then have attained to its ultimate and deepest
center in God. This will be when the soul shall love Him,
comprehend Him, and enjoy Him with all its strength. When, however,
the soul has not attained to this state...it is not in the deepest
center, because there is still room for it to advance...But if the
soul shall have attained to the highest degree of love, the love of
God will then wound it in its utmost depth or center, and the soul
will be transformed and enlightened in the highest degree of its
substance, faculties, and strength, until it shall become most like
unto God. The soul in this state may be compared to crystal, lucid
and pure, the greater the light thrown upon it, the more luminous
it becomes by the concentration thereof, until at last it seems to
be all light and indistinguishable from it; it being then so
illumined, and to the utmost extent, that it seems to be one with
the light itself.

St. John talks about what is, evidently, a process of
deification of the soul through a
“wounding” of love. The soul is
gradually transformed into light; the image of God. The radiance of
Moses after talking with the Lord is evidently one of the early
stages of this process as is the Transfiguration of Jesus. The
reading from Daniel seems to indicate a phase beyond the physical,
human level. By the later phase, the recognition of the
“being” as human and an individual
is almost lost.

When in the presence of God, do I feel the beginning of a
transformation? Am I slowly losing the hold of my ego so that I can
be more Christ-like?

96. The Chain of Degradation

(Lord, May I Be Fruitful In Your Knowledge)

Take note that before thoughts, stand their causes; before
imagination–thoughts; before
passions–imagination; before the
demons–passions, forming a kind of graded chain
of degraded spirits holding on to one another. But nothing here
comes to pass without the demons: neither does imagination paint
images, nor does passion act without their hidden power. All the
same, what gives them power over us is mostly our own
carelessness.

I can take the chain of causation either up (toward God and my
spiritual nature) or down (toward the demons and my earthy nature).
Up, by empowering my faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control,
endurance, devotion, mutual affection and love (God). Down, by my
natural tendencies/actions which are empowered by my thoughts,
imagination, passions (demons). As St. Gregory says, my own
carelessness can break me while my own carefulness can help to save
me.

In what ways am I careless in developing my faith? In what ways
do I let my passions control me?

97. A Touch of the Angelic

(Lord, May I Minister Unto You)

It is said that in the life to come the angels and saints shall
never cease to progress in increasing their gifts, striving for
greater and ever greater blessings. No slackening or change from
virtue to sin is admitted in that life.

In the future life (or in heaven) the saints hold inner converse
with one another, the Holy Spirit speaking in them.

Minds equal unto the angels in freedom from corruption and
deification, will be

those saints that are the children of the resurrection.

If we do not learn what we were created by God, we shall not
know what we have become through sin.

The angels ministered to the Son of God after the temptation in
the desert, in the garden of Gethsemane and other times when
needed. I find the idea very comforting that, after death, we
continue to grow in spiritual maturity and are to be of service to
Jesus in His quest for souls. The future looks joyful!

How can I help prepare myself now to be a servant of Jesus in
the afterlife?

98. The Stigmata of St. Francis

(May I Bare Your Marks, Lord Jesus)

On a certain morning about the Feast of Exaltation of the Cross,
while Francis was praying on the mountainside, he saw a Seraph with
six fiery and shining wings descend from the height of
heaven...There appeared between the wings the figure of a man
crucified, with his hands and feet extended in the form of a cross
and fastened to a cross. When Francis saw this he was overwhelmed,
and his heart was flooded with a mixture of joy and sorrow. He
rejoiced because of the gracious way Christ looked upon him under
the appearance of the Seraph, but the fact that he was fastened to
a cross pierced his soul with a sword of compassionate sorrow.

Eventually, he understood by a revelation from the Lord...that,
as Christ’s lover he might learn in advance that
he was to be totally transformed into the likeness of Christ
crucified, nit by the martyrdom of the flesh, but by the fire of
his love consuming his soul.

Aft the vision disappeared, it left in his heart a marvelous
ardor and imprinted on his body markings...Immediately the marks of
nails began to appear in his hands and feet...His hands and feet
seemed to be pierced through the center by nails, with the heads of
the nails appearing on the inner side of the hands and the upper
side of the feet and their points on the opposite side. The heads
of the nails in his hands and his feet were round and black; their
points were oblong and bent as if driven back with a hammer, and
they emerged from the flesh and stuck out beyond it. Also his right
side, as if pierced with a lance, was marked with a red wound from
which his sacred blood often flowed, moistening his tunic and
underwear.

When Christ's servant realized that he could not conceal from
his intimate companions the stigmata that had been so visibly
imprinted on his flesh, he feared to make public the
Lord’s secret...He then with much fear recounted
the vision in detail, adding that the one who had appeared to him
had told him some things which he would never disclose to any man
as long as he lived.

The transformation of the soul into the likeness of God
evidently has a powerful effect on our physical, human nature. It
may be being marked with the stigmata of Christ as happened to St.
Francis, Padre Pio and, perhaps, St. Paul. It may be an ability to
raise the dead (even after the transformed person has died!) like
Elisha the Prophet. All manner of these manifestations were present
in Jesus. In some cases, these manifestations seem to be graces and
at other times, curses. In any event, these manifestations are
distributed as God wills--just like the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The important thing is that my spiritual transformation should have
an impact on my physical nature, however modest.

Are my actions becoming more Christ-like as a result of my
spiritual growth?

99. The Example of Daily Resurrections

(Lord, May I Always Be With You)

Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us
that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has rendered
the Lord Jesus Christ, the first fruits by raising Him from the
dead. Let us contemplate, beloved, the resurrection which is at all
times taking place. Day and night declare to us a resurrection. The
night sinks to sleep, and the day arises; the day again departs,
and the night comes on. Let us behold the fruits of the earth, how
the sowing of grain takes place. The sower goes forth, and casts it
into the ground, and the seed being thus scattered, though dry and
naked when it fell upon the earth, is gradually dissolved. Then out
of its dissolution the mighty power of the providence of the Lord
raises it up again, and from one seed many arise and bring forth
fruit.

Do we deem it any great and wonderful thing for the Maker of all
things to raise up again those that have piously served Him in the
assurance of a good faith?..

—St. Clement of Rome
(friend of St. Paul and St. Luke) Epistle to the Corinthians
(CCEL)

In addition to the teaching of Jesus, the daily resurrections I
see give me hope for a blessed afterlife. While Jesus looked
different after His resurrection and the grain of wheat certainly
looks different when it sprouts, the essential character of each is
still there. Maybe I won’t look like myself, but
I know that I will be.

How can I study nature to nurture my hope in the
resurrection?

100. A Godly Love

(May I Love and Do Rightly, O God)

Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ.
Who can describe the blessed bond of the love of God? What man is
able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told?
The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to
God. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love bears all things, is
long suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing
arrogant in love. Love admits of no schisms; love gives rise to no
seditions; love does all things in harmony. By love have all the
elect of God been made perfect; without love nothing is well
pleasing to God. In love has the Lord taken us to Himself. On
account of the Love he bore us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His
blood for us by the will of God, His flesh for our flesh, and His
soul for our souls.

You see, beloved, how great and wonderful a thing is love, and
that there is no declaring its perfection. Who is fit to be found
in it, except such as God has vouchsafed to render so? Let us pray,
therefore, and implore of His mercy, that we may live blameless in
love, free from human partialities for one above another. All the
generations from Adam even unto this day have passed away; but
those who, through the grace of God, have been made perfect in
love, now possess a place among the godly, and shall be made
manifest at the revelation of the kingdom of Christ.

—St.
Clement of Rome (friend of St. Paul and St. Luke) Epistle to the
Corinthians, CCEL

Without love, nothing is well-pleasing to God. And what does God
require if I am to love Him? Simply, to do what is right, love
loyalty and walk humbly with Him. Sacrifice is not required. Let us
pray for the grace to love God like this.

In what ways do I still believe that God wants "sacrifices" from
me? How can I improve my "walk" with God?